PARIS, February 19. /TASS/. German haute-couture designer and creative director of French fashion house Chanel Karl Lagerfeld died on Tuesday morning at the age of 85, Le Figaro newspaper reported.
Lagerfeld passed away after several weeks of ill health, the newspaper wrote. According to BFM TV channel, the fashion icon had been ill for several months and was urgently sent to hospital on Monday evening. Lagerfeld missed the latest Chanel fashion show a month ago, saying he was "tired."
The fashion designer was born to a German family in Hamburg. His mother was German and his father had Swedish roots. In 1952, he moved to France and graduated from a design school in Paris. He later became an assistant of famous fashion designer Pierre Balmain, with whom he worked until 1958. Then he started working at the Jean Patou fashion house.
Lagerfeld became an independent designer and worked simultaneously with four fashion houses. In 1983, he was invited to work as creative director of French fashion house Chanel. At that time the Chanel brand was not very popular, but Lagerfeld managed to quickly create several collections, which were a success and revived the old fashion house.
In the past decades, Lagerfeld became a passionate photographer and organized several successful exhibitions of his photos, and also released albums.